1. America’s History Eighth Edition
James A. Henretta
Eric Hinderaker
Rebecca Edwards
Robert O. Self
America’s History Eighth Edition
CHAPTER 11
Religion and Reform
1800–1860
Copyright © 2014 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. I. Individualism: The Ethic of the Middle Class
A. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism
1. Transcendentalism
celebration of human passions and mysteries
explore “individuality” - believed people were trapped by traditions
communion with nature; work destroying spiritual lives.
2. The lyceum movement
1826, movement to reach people through public lectures
modeled after Aristotle’s public lectures in ancient Greece .

3. I. Individualism: The Ethic of the Middle Class
B. Emerson’s Literary Influence
1.Henry David Thoreau: built cabin at Walden Pond
published Walden, or Life in the Woods about his search for meaning in the natural world
Margaret Fuller: explored freedom for women - women deserved independence
Walt Whitman: printer, teacher, journalist, and newspaper editor; published Leaves of Grass (1855).
2. Darker Visions
Nathaniel Hawthorne: pessimistic worldview, published The Scarlet Letter (1850) criticizing excessive individualism
Herman Melville: critic of transcendentalist focus on the individual, published Moby Dick (1851 3

4. II. Rural Communalism and Urban Popular Culture
A. The Utopian Impulse
1. Mother Ann and the Shakers
first successful American communal movement
“Shakers” = dancing during service
2. Albert Brisbane and Fourierism
Charles Fourier predicted imminent decline of individual property rights and capitalist values
members of communities known as phalanxes would own property in common
believed in liberation of women as well as men

5. II. Rural Communalism and Urban Popular Culture
A. The Utopian Impulse (cont.)
3. John Humphrey Noyes and Oneida
rejected marriage - a major barrier to sinless perfection on earth
embraced “complex marriage” in which all members of community are married to one another

6. II. Rural Communalism and Urban Popular Culture
B. Joseph Smith and the Mormon Experience
Joseph Smith
believed he had been chosen to receive a revelation
published The Book of Mormon (1830)
patriarchal authority, frugality, hard work, a church-directed society, moral perfection
2. Brigham Young and Utah
6,500 Mormons fled the U.S. for Mexico
settled in the Great Salt Lake Valley
“Mormon War” over the issue of polygamy and possible nullification
II. Rural Communalism and Urban Popular Culture 6

7. II. Rural Communalism and Urban Popular Culture
C. Urban Popular Culture
1. Sex in the City
men and women left rural areas for the cities
found life very difficult; low wages in factories for men, and women worked as domestics
2. Minstrelsy
– Rat and terrier fights at local halls and performances of traditional theater were popular
white actors performed in blackface; historians have labeled these shows both racist caricature/social criticism
3. Immigrant Masses and Nativist Reaction
Immigrants wanted to be viewed as “white”
Irish joined American Catholic Churches
nativists wanted to stop immigration; gangs formed in New York City
violence erupted between immigrant groups and native-born white Americans.

8. III. Abolitionism
A. Black Social Thought: Uplift, Race Equality, and Rebellion
1. David Walker’s Appeal
ridiculed religious arguments of slaveholders, justified slave rebellion
1830, national convention of free black leaders; group demanded freedom and “race equality”
2. Nat Turner’s Revolt
a slave in Virginia - separated from wife by a new master and had a religious vision
1831, led a revolt - killed 55 whites; he was eventually caught and hanged.
Virginia increased slave codes, prohibited anyone from teaching slaves to read, limited movement of black people in the state.
III.

9. III. Abolitionism B. Evangelical Abolitionism
1. William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore Weld, and Angelina and Sarah Grimké
Garrison = New England Anti-Slavery Society and published The Liberator
Weld published The Bible Against Slavery (1837)
Grimké sisters published American Slavery as It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses (1839)
2. The American Anti-Slavery Society
established the Underground Railroad to help fugitives
petitioned Congress (1835) to demand abolition in the District of Columbia, end interstate slave trade, and prohibit new slave states. 9

10. III. Abolitionism C. Opposition and Internal Conflict
1. Attacks on Abolitionism
slaveholders opposed/attacked the movement for political, social, and economic reasons
white men and women almost universally opposed “amalgamation,” racial mixing/intermarriage
Congress passed the “gag rule” to keep abolitionists from petitioning; remained in place until 1844.
2. Internal Divisions
critical of women addressing mix-gendered audiences
Garrison’s opponents founded a new organization, the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.

11. IV. The Women’s Rights Movement
A. Origins of the Women’s Movement
1. Moral Reform
Religious women wanted to help other women; Female Moral Reform Society to curb prostitution
2. Improving Prisons, Creating Asylums, Expanding Education
Dorothea Dix - began a campaign to improve care for the mentally ill
started asylum-building movement to separate the mentally ill from criminals
Mann in Massachusetts; recruited well-educated women to be teachers.

12. IV. The Women’s Rights Movement
B. From Black Rights to Women’s Rights
1. Abolitionist Women
Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom’s Cabin - moral failing of slavery
Angelina and Sarah Grimké attacked slavery and argued that women have a claim to equal civic rights
abolitionist women asserted that traditional gender roles resulted in the domestic slavery of women.
2. Seneca Falls and Beyond
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized Seneca Falls Convention
issued “Declaration of Sentiments”; made a claim for women in public life and criticized the idea of “separate spheres”
1851, began an effort to gain voting rights; Susan B. Anthony a Quaker, led the campaign for voting rights at mid-century. IV 12